


(in another universe) i told you i loved you

by coldswaters



Category: The Magicians (TV), The Magicians - Lev Grossman
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, M/M, this has been in my drive for months but here it is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-25
Updated: 2019-10-25
Packaged: 2021-01-02 21:35:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21168221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldswaters/pseuds/coldswaters
Summary: To Quentin’s surprise, Eliot said yes. And things had been pretty good since then. Until now.





	(in another universe) i told you i loved you

**Author's Note:**

> so i started this and basically planned to rewrite all of season 4 as if el and q were together but i never finished and kinda left the fandom after a while. i pretty much forgot about this fic but i reread it one day and liked what i had so here it is. it's technically "unfinished" because i had much bigger plans for it but it has closure i swear.

To Quentin’s surprise, Eliot said yes. They were sitting in the throne room of Whitespire, and Quentin just poured his heart out after the memories from the mosaic came to him. He told Eliot that they worked and said they should give it a shot, and Eliot agreed. 

And things had been pretty good since then. Until now.

-

They figure out how to get magic back. They have all 7 keys and have to go to Blackspire and turn it back on, but there’s a problem. The monster in the castle, but after talking to the guard, Quentin has a plan.

“I stay in the castle.” He says to the group of them sitting in the cottage

“No,” Eliot immediately interjects and and stands up out of the chair he’s sitting in. “There’s gotta be another away.”

“There isn’t,” Quentin says. “Sometimes you have to sacrifice things to save others.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice yourself, Q,” Eliot all but he yells. He walks closer to Quentin, so close they’re almost breathing the same air. Everybody else in the room is staring at them. “We have the god-killing bullet, let’s just shoot the damn thing.”

“No, there’s no other option. I told Ora that we wouldn’t pull anything.” Quentin says, not looking at Eliot.

“I don’t care, Q,” Eliot says forcefully. “I’m not letting the  _ love of my life  _ lock himself in a castle for eternity.”

Quentin finally meets Eliot’s eyes and there is an intense stare down before Margo speaks up and they both look in her direction.

“I agree with El,” she says. “Not the whole “love of my life thing” but I’m not letting one of my best friends get locked up.”

“See,” Eliot says. “I’m not the only one who think your plan is dumb.”

“It’s the only one we have, Eliot.” Quentin says, crossing his arms, and Eliot can tell he’s annoyed.

“Can we talk,” Eliot says softly and puts a hand on Quentin’s shoulder. “Alone”

Quentin looks around the room. “Sure.”

They walk out of the lounge and head into the kitchen

“What do you wanna talk about?” Quentin asks when they get there, with an edge to his voice.

“What do you think?” Eliot retorts.

Quentin sighs and rolls his eyes. “I’m staying in the castle.”

Eliot knows that he really does not want to. Quentin is the person Eliot knows best, besides maybe Margo, and he can see in Quentins eyes that he does not want to stay.

“You were willing to stay in fillory,” he continues. “This is the same thing.”

“I don’t care Q,” he says pleadingly. “I love you and I’m not losing you. After everything. The threesome, the mosaic, I’m not losing you to some stupid monster after we’ve spent so much time on this quest. I’m not.”

“El..”

“No,” Eliot says, and he’s desperate now. He’s grabbing at Quentin and needs him to know that he won’t that he  _ can’t  _ lose him. “We’re gonna find another way. Q, we have to, I’m not letting you leave me.”

“Eliot-” Quentin says softly, but Eliot cuts him off.

“Q! I know you don’t wanna do this! We’ll figure it out but you’re not doing it.”

“Of course I don’t wanna stay there!” Quentin exclaims. “I want to stay here, stay with you! I love you, Eliot, of course I don’t wanna leave you, but it’s our best option right now!”

“Our best option is the god-killing bullet!”

“I already told you we can’t do that.”

“I know, I know,” Eliot says, tired of the argument. “But you’re not staying, okay?”   
  


“Okay,” Quentin’s agrees. “We’ll look for another way, but if we don’t find anything, I’m staying.”

Quentin can tell Eliot doesn’t like even the possibility of him staying, but Eliot agrees regardless, not wanting to argue more.

“Let’s go tell the others our plan.” Quentin says and turns to leave the kitchen

Before he can leave, Eliot grabs his arm and turns him around. 

“We’re gonna figure this out, okay? I love you.” He says and leans down to press his forehead to Quentin’s.

“I love you, too.” Quentin says and pulls him down for a kiss.

-

“But what can we do without magic?” Alice asks, first thing after Quentin and Eliot tell everyone their plan.

“I think I might have a solution for that.” Quentin says.

“Do tell.” Margo says from her place on the couch.

“Julia,” Quentin says. “She gave me the magic that enabled me to talk to Ora and if she can give me, or any of us, more we can find a spell we can use it to deal with the monster.”

“Huh,” Margo says. “This might actually work.”

So, they start researching. They’re not sure what they’re looking for, but Quentin is sure they’ll know it when they find it. 

There are a few misses, like a spell that freezes time so they could escape but they couldn’t figure out how to only freeze the monster and a spell that nearly kills all of them when they try it.

But eventually, they find it. Or, Alice finds it to be exact. 

“I found it.” She says, walking up to the table where everyone else is sitting.

“A spell?” Eliot asks, looking up from the book he was reading over Quentin’s shoulder. They’d barely left each other's side since the plan was revealed, and surprisingly, no one has said anything. They’re usually pretty touchy-feely but these past days have been different. Usually they would get hell for all the PDA they’ve been doing, but everyone gets it, so everyone stays quiet.

Alice nods. “It’s called the kouzelná klec, which translates to magic cage, and according to this book, it can trap just about anything.” She says and shows the rest of the group the book.

They all gather around it and begin reading.

“This could actually work.” Margo says when it seems like everyone is done reading.

“I fucking hope it does.” Eliot says and drops a kiss to Quentin’s head.

“One of you will have to cast it though,” Quentin says, looking at the group. “I’ll be talking, or whatever, to the monster so one of you will have to trap it.”

“I’ll do it.” Eliot says.

“And now we just gotta contact Julia.” Quentin says on a sigh.

-

Turns out, contacting Julia is not that hard. She is a fucking goddess after all, so all Quentin has to do is pray to her.

“I can’t believe I’m about to  _ pray  _ to my best friend.” Quentin says with a chuckle. Him and Eliot are sitting on the bed together in Eliot’s room of the cottage, facing each other. They are both very happy to have some alone time, even if it is going to be spent praying to their friend-turned-goddess.

“I’d pray to fucking Satan if it meant not having to lose you.” Eliot says and he tries to make it seem like a joke, but Quentin can tell he’s serious.

“Hey,” Quentin says and puts a hand on Eliot’s neck. “You’re not gonna lose me, you hear? I love you too much for that.”

Eliot places his hand on top of Quentins and leans forward to kiss him. “I love you too,” He says. “Now get praying.”

“Do I like, kneel and fold my hands?” Quentin asks. “I have no idea how to do this.”

“I don’t think so. Just like, think to her.” Eliot says.

_ Julia,  _ Quentin thinks and closes his eyes,  _ Our lady of the tree. It’s Q, and I really need you help. So if you hear this and have the time, I’d really appreciate the help. I love you. _

Quentin opens his eyes, and Julia is there.

“Holy shit.” Eliot says quietly.

“Jules!” Quentin exclaims jumping up to hug her. “You’re here! I thought it would take longer or something.”

“It usually does,” Julia explains. “But I heard your voice clear as a whistle out of all the others, so I came. Plus, you’re my best friend, that has some perks.”

“Thank you.” Quentin says as he pulls away.

“So, what do you need?” Julia asks.

“Another one-off magic thing,” Quentin says. “We found a spell to trap the monster that lives in Blackspire but obviously, we need magic to do it.”

“Okay, I can do that.” She says, and reached forward to put her hand on Quentin’s chest to transfer the magic. 

“Wait,” He says. “You need to give it to Eliot. I’m gonna be talking to the monster, so Eliot has to be the one who traps it.”

“Are you sure?” Julia asks, a skeptical look on her face.   
  


“Yes,” Quentin says. “I trust him more than anything.” 

“Gross.” Julia retorts and gets an eye-roll from both Quentin and Eliot.

“But, here you go.” She continues and place her hand on Eliot’s chest.

“Woah,” Eliot says when the transfer is complete. “That felt weird.”

“It’s yours now. You get one chance, don’t fuck it up.” Julia says, and disappears. 

“No pressure.”

-

So, they’re in blackspire. They just walked through the door and Ora is there.

“Take me to the monster.” Quentin says.

“This way.” She replies and Quentin and Eliot follow.

They walk down a hallway and Ora comes to a stop.

“It’s that way.” She says gesturing toward a door at the end of the hall.

A man steps out of the door, with blond hair and wearing a regal looking outfit. Quentin looks behind him to Eliot as if to say “that’s it?”

“Hello,” the monster says. “Will you play with me.”

Quentin pulls a deck of cards out of his bag and begins fiddling with them, showing the monster. Behind him, Eliot begins casting the spell. Quentin hears Eliot chanting in Czech, and before he knows it, there is a bright blue cage around the monster.

“Huh,” Quentin says. “It really is a magic cage.”

“I don’t like this game,” The monster says, flicks his wrist, and the cage falls apart. Quentin is shocked into silence but he hears Eliot let out a gasp behind him. “Let’s play a different one.”

“Okay, okay,” Quentin says, panicking and shuffling the cards again.

But before he can finish whatever is was that he was about to do, he hears the cock of a gun behind him. Turning around, he says Eliot with the god killing bullet gun, aiming right at the monster.

“El, no!” Quentin yells, but it’s too late. There’s a gunshot and the monster is on the ground.

“How?” Ora yells, running over to the monster's body on the ground.

“God killing bullet.” Eliot replies, waving the gun around.

“Eliot, what the fuck!” Quentin yells. “We agreed that if the spell didn’t work, I would stay!”

“I actually didn’t agree to anything,” Eliot says. “I didn’t agree to let my boyfriend and  _ love of my life  _ stay in this castle guarding a really not so scary monster.”

They both look over to wear the monster is laying on the ground, but Ora is gone.

“Where’d she go?” Eliot asks.

They both look around for a second.

“That doesn’t matter, Eliot. But why the fuck would you do that?” Quentin says.

“I did it because, like I said, I can’t lose you,” Eliot says. “And anyway, it’s done. We can’t change anything now.”

Quentin just glares at him as they walk back down the hallway to rejoin the group.

-

When they get there, everyone is standing around where the keys go, and Margo is holding all seven of said keys.

“Everyone take a key, bitches.” She says, holding them up.

But, before everyone can take one, Alice magically swipes them from the group.

And then she destroys them.

And then Julia appears and goes full Prometheus on the keys.

And then they finally,  _ finally  _ turn magic back on, and everything is good, for about two seconds.

Because then the librarians appear, put on the siphon, and everything is shit again.

-

Brain, the english professor, is leaving his favorite bookshop, when a curly haired man appears.

“Quentin,” the man says. “I found you.”

“Uh, I think you have the wrong guy. I’m Brian.” Brian says.

-

Quentin is Quentin again, but Eliot is still the monster. 

“I’m so glad you’re back, Quentin,” The monster says. They’re sitting on a ledge in a park and the monster is leaning his head on Quentin’s shoulder. They’re both covered in blood. “I didn’t like Brian’s games.”

Quentin is hurting. He does not let the monster see that because, why would he, but he is in agonizing pain. Eliot is not Eliot and Quentin has no idea if his Eliot is okay or where he is, or if he’s even alive. Bottling this all up, Quentin addresses the monster.

“I’m glad I’m back to,” he says. “But when you’re done whatever it is you have to do, can I maybe have Eliot back?” He asks, and feels his heart constrict.

“Why would you want _ Eliot  _ back?” The monster asks, picking his head up from Quentin’s shoulder and looking at him. “I’m here now.”

“Because, uh, Eliot is my friend and I want him.”

The monster looks at Quentin's like he’s reading him.

“You like him more than me,” The monster says, then his face flashes in realization. “No! You love him.  _ You’re in love with him.  _ That’s why you want him back. So you can love him and do things people in love do.”

“I, I just-” Quentin stutters out and a tear spills out of his eye. “I just want him back.”   
  


“No, don’t cry,” the monster says and hugs Quentin. “I hate seeing my friends cry.”

Quentin wants to cry. Because if he closes his eyes, it like Eliot is hugging him. It’s almost like Eliot is holding him on the couch as they watch a movie. Almost like Eliot is spooning him in bed. But he knows it’s not, and his heart shatters even more.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> . uh yea im not in the fandom anymore but i still miss q


End file.
